An important part of making change successful is to understand the
stakeholders, who can range from a janitor at the bottom of the tree to a CEO of
a multinational company. Here are a few ways you can find out more about these
people.

Direct one-to-one interviews

One of the simplest things you can do is to go and talk with them. Ideally,
this would a long series of discussions over a period of time in which you could
delve into their psyche and gain a deep and full understanding of them.
Unfortunately, you may well be limited to one short snatch of their time, and so
you must prepare very carefully for this.

Interviews should start with a brief overview of the purpose of the interview
and can also support relaxing the interviewee. A little light humor here can be
very helpful.

The body of the interview can vary in its level of structure from working
through a carefully planned set of questions to a relatively unstructured
conversation, guided only by a broad set of themes.

Interviews are best done face-to-face, but if your stakeholders are scattered
far and wide then telephone interviews are a practical alternative.
Communication is cut down significantly when you use the telephone: you lose
non-verbal communication and the voice is noticeably distorted. This requires
that you take care to ensure you speak clearly.

Questionnaires

If you need to get a broad understanding of a larger number of people, then
interviews are impractical. Questionnaires give you a long reach, although at
the cost of the ability to probe in detail.

Questionnaires that use closed and multiple-choice questions allow you to do
statistical analysis afterwards, allowing you to say things like '53.7 % of the
population prefer Zonked'.

A classic form is to use a 'Liker scale' such as:

Please tick one box for each statement to show your level of
agreement

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

I enjoy a new challenge

I like working with people

Focus groups

When you have a large group of stakeholders and where you are able to get a
representative sample of these in a room, then focus groups can be a useful
tool.

In focus groups, the principle is to ask the group of people some triggering
questions and then listen to their responses and observe their interaction. Thus
in change, you could ask questions like:

What are your main concerns about this change?
Have the communications so far been clear?

Things they have said, written and done

A useful source of information about stakeholders is the trail of evidence
that they leave behind in their writings and actions.

Particularly for senior managers (who may be difficult to meet for long),
there is often much information in the speeches they have made (which companies
often keep), company newsletters, etc.

Other people may well have written papers, sent emails, commented in meeting
minutes, and so on. All, if they may be legitimately accessed, are useful
sources which you can analyze for their values, beliefs, etc. In particular, if
you can find their actions and words around previous change initiatives, then
this may show relevant and useful information.

Things others say about them

And finally, you can just go ask other people about them. Be careful about
this as you do not want to appear to be snooping, but legitimate conversation
and careful questioning can give you very useful insights. A useful framing
during such conversations is one of concern, for example how the person in
question will be able to cope with the change.

Just listening to the grapevine and other gossip can be another useful
source, although beware of biased discussions based on a dislike of a person
which stereotypes them.